Anne McAllisterReseñas

The eight second wedding by Anne Mcallister
This story starts with Madeleine and she's heavy into her dissertation. Her mother and her best friend, Antonio who has 4 boys are scheming to get a marriage between Maddeleine and one of the boys. Over the years the boys have gone off and gotten married without een notifying their mother. There is only Chan left and both of the parents are trying to get them to even meet each other. Madeleine works out of NY and Chan is on the rodeo circuit but does agree to get the whole thing over with and meets Madeleine in NY where he's shocked when she answers the door. Once he's left Madeline gets it into her head that they must combine forces to prove their mothers wrong and they are NOT compatible at all. Love the trekking around the US to the rodeo shows while she writes and he rides. Love how he also teachers her things about the rodeo and just everyday things, like how to drive. Things are going so well til they are not.
They are right all along there is no way they would ever marry one another... Funny story at times and sincere.
Great read
Received this review copy from the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

There was not nearly enough groveling, but it was fairly well nuanced, especially considering the length of the book. I do wish the dude had considered the lady's point of view better. Reduced my enjoyment a bit.

I try reading a lot of free ebooks since currently that's what I can afford. There's good stuff to find in any price category, and this novel's a prime example of a gem among rocks, though I couldn't tell until I got to the fifth chapter, when I knew I'd have to finish reading it.

It is all told from Luke's point of view, and he is the quintessential cantankerous cowboy. I grew up among those. The worse they're hurt, the harder they'll turtle up. The ways the author uses to crack his shell are gorgeous. I can't think of a better word for it. There's not just one, they come from different directions, and it still takes time and danger, and then it's still not simple. The last few chapters had me in tears several times.

Yeah. Read this one.

Sweet read. Satisfying. Not slow but not a lot of drama. Good characterization and believable relationship.

Sweet story with likeable characters all around.

Very enjoyable series romance. The characters are really fleshed out and sound very individual and authentic. For a series romance, the plot was very down-to--earth and a lot fresher than others I've read (despite the movie star cowboy).

Reading this instead of the other one. Nice light read and progressing along. After finishing Dark Queen I came back to this. Still a nice easy light read. Yes, things were a little obvious, but sometimes we want to just have easy and light.

Zack was the school bad boy who made good. Jane was the good girl who still lives by that precept. When they reunite to work on a project for there old school, sparks fly. Throw in Jane's elementary school class playing matchmaker and a secret admirer who has been sending Jane sweetly meaningful charms for her charm bracelet every Valentines Day and it is a recipe for romance.
Zack and Jane are a cute couple and their relationship is twenty years in the making. Both have demons and insecurities. Both are good people trying to live up or down to expectations. Both deserve the happy ending.
A little bit predictable but still charming.

**I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest voluntary review. All opinions are my own and not influenced by my source.**

How cute is that synopsis?! I thought it was fun that the kids were so invested in their teacher's love life. I also love the idea of a "loved you forever" type of second chance romance.

To be honest, I thought the kids were more involved with the matchmaking process. I'm not sure how they could pull that off (lock them in a classroom? write notes?), but I thought they'd have more of a hand in getting these two to finally realize their feelings. They really don't which is a shame because the kids were definitely a highlight for me. They were so charming and they stole ever scene they were in.

Nevertheless, the story was entertaining and kept my attention. It was a touch predictable but the characters were engaging and likable so I enjoyed watching everything unfold.

While these two shared some great chemistry, I needed a little more to convince me that they truly loved each other and not just the idea of each other. What foundations did they have to establish such an emotional connected based on a few interactions as children? We do get a few of those moments as the story progressed but I craved a little more.

Overall: This is a sweet romance that will capture your heart from start to finish!

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: https://wp.me/p7hLUw-2vD
Actual Rating: 3/5

Such a cute story. Love the kids. Jane and Zack have known each other since they were kids. Jane's mother told her to stay away from Zack because he was trouble. Zack had a bad home life and would do anything to get attention, including being bad. One day Jane did a very kind thing for Zack and he never forgot it. Now, all these years later, he is back in Jane's life. She is still a little afraid of him, but he isn't like that little boy anymore. She decides she might be attracted to Zack, but he is way out of her league. Does he feel the same?

This story was a delightful read until nearly the very end when the author decided to write in an explicit love scene. I am just not a fan of graphic descriptions of lovemaking. They always seem too forced and are definitely unnecessary to furthering the plot. The best romance stories I've read are when the author eludes to the physical intimacy but focuses instead on the emotional intimacy between the main characters therefore establishing a relationship that is truly believable and sustainable. This particular author did a fantastic job with the emotional rollercoaster of falling in love and learning to care about the other persons feelings and experiences. But I wish they would have left the bedroom details to the imagination of the reader. Authors always seem to try too hard in their love scenes to make it sexy and and end up describing things in ridiculous terms that are outright laughable. This book was not an exception to that. I absolutely adored Zack and Jane. Their love story, 20 years in the making was so sweet and delightful. Who doesn't love a tough "bad boy" with a soft heart and a heroine who is a genuinely nice person? I just wish I could recommend it to my friends and book club but they too do not care for x-rated scenes. Would have been 5 stars if the author could have trusted her own story and writing abilities and not resorted to unnnecesary sex scenes.

*I received a free copy from Librarything in exchange for my honest review*

Valentine Charms by Anne McAllister

Heartwarming, wonderfully sweet romance with a happily ever after ending that swept me up in the story and charmed my soul…

Jane Kitto teaches second grade at the Catholic school she once attended. When Zack Stoner sweeps back into her life to do a story on the school they are both alumni of she is a bit taken aback. When she was seven he was the bad boy she was warned against but even then she found him…intriguing. Zack had a rough childhood and acted out but did make good by going to college and becoming a successful football player. Now retired he wants to help the school that he feels helped him move in the right direction. The two will need to work together to make the TV segment all that it can be but working together will also require them to spend time in close proximity and give them a chance, as adults, to get to know one another better and perhaps find a future together. And, that is just what Jane’s students are intent on helping happen for the teacher they love.

This is a delightful book. It has a secret admirer sending charms to Jane for years. It tells the backstories of both main characters. It captured me and made me feel part of the story and left me with a warmth and happiness not many books achieve. It may be simple in some ways but oh so very complex in others. And, it made me wonder if perhaps there are choices we have made as children or youth that have impacted someone as greatly as Jane impacted Zack one school day.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tule Publishing – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

I liked this story about a ranch foreman teaching a city girl how to run a ranch.

Tanner had been the foreman of Three Bar C for a few years when the owner passed away leaving the ranch to Maggie MacLeod. Maggie moved to the ranch from the city, knowing nothing about ranching but was determined to learn. She had been told that Tanner was going to be there to teach her. How hard could it be?

I liked the way this pair fell for each other but fought their feelings. Tanner didn't do relationships. He had been married once and never again. Maggie was his boss so she knew she shouldn't get involved with him. The reaction of these characters to each other pulled me into the story. I loved Maggie's determination and spunk to learn everything she could about ranching. But she was almost too good to be true. Tanner was a mess. He didn't talk much making it hard to know or like him.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes sweet western romances.

Cowboy Pride by Anne McAllister
The Tanner Brothers #5

Jed and Brenna were in love at one time and for eleven years Brenna has wondered why Jed turned his back on her. A successful artist she has lived in New York, married, lost her husband and is pregnant when she returns to the ranch to help her father out after is stroke. Jed is working on a nearby ranch, raising his nephew Tuck and rather curmudgeonly. He wants NOTHING to do with Brenna…or so he says…though they are thrust together often as he helps on the ranch and she teaches Tuck art. Jed is a man of principles with a secret that keeps him from really living and loving – when his secret finally comes out the marriage of convenience becomes a whole lot more.

As I read I felt this story had an old feel to it so looked it up and found that it was originally published in 1996. So, I was right and yet the story is just as valid today as it no doubt was over 20 years ago. Pride does not make it easy sometimes and it definitely did not make Jed’s life easier.

I enjoyed this book and want to thank NetGalley and Tule Publishing for the copy. This is my honest review.

4 Stars

This is book #3 in the Tanner Brothers series and it's my favorite of the three. Noah Tanner is back in Wyoming but gets sidelined there when he's involved in a car accident. It just so happens the nurse taking care of him is a woman he'd been involved with years before. When he can't go spend Christmas with his brothers he ends up staying with Tess for the holidays. I liked the fact that Noah was willing to admit he'd made mistakes and was finally willing to admit that deep down he wanted a family. I also enjoyed catching up with Robert and Luke, his brothers and their families. It's a wonderful second chance at love story that will warm your heart. I highly recommend this whole series.

Luke Tanner has been in self-exile ever since Keith Mallory died. Luke met Keith on the set of a movie and before he knew what was happening he was working as Keith's stunt double. After an accident while shooting a movie Luke hides himself away from the spotlight. This story has a lot of great supporting characters that I loved learning about. Luke gets his happily ever after but what he goes through to get there is well worth reading I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it.

Tanner has been alone a long time and he likes it that way. When the elderly lady that owns the ranch he work on dies, he finds himself working for a lovely woman who knows nothing about ranching. They have a lot to learn about each other and maybe Tanner can learn that having someone is better than being alone.

This review contains SPOILERS****

Widowed schoolteacher Holly Halloran meets her late husband Matt's best friend (hero Lukas Antonides) unexpectedly when he shows up looking for her. She had written to him about making a donation of a boat Lukas and her husband Matt shared to her school, which is what Matt would have wanted since he liked working with children. Holly has never really got on with Lukas and hasn't seen him since her wedding ten years ago to Matt. Holly and Lukas have known each other since they were children. A young Holly was best friends with Matt but then Lukas showed up and started spending time with Matt and became his best friend. So there was some childhood friction between Holly and Lukas, they argued a lot, Lukas told her to grow up, find someone else to play with, etc... But as they were growing up, under the animosity, there was also an attraction to each other neither really recognized at the time. At eighteen Holly became engaged to Matt, but on the night of her prom Matt asked Lukas to take Holly since he had broken his leg and couldn't go. On this night, on his Dad's sailboat, they found out they were very attracted to each other. Both are guilt-ridden over kissing and some heavy petting on the boat. Holly feels she betrayed Matt. Lukas does too but the reader already can tell he's confused and is falling in love with Holly. They are also very young, Holly is still in her teens, Lukas around twenty, and they have a lot of growing and maturing to do. Holly runs off, not wanting to talk to Lukas, and feeling guilty for lusting after his best friend's girl Lukas ends up moving away and neither Holly or Lukas had contact until now, over a decade later.

Holly lost her husband Matt over two years ago. Her friends are trying to get her to date again. She teaches fifth graders and is thinking of joining the Peace Corps---a two year teaching position on a small Pacific Island.

After Lukas moved away he made a fortune in opal mining---he befriended a man called Skeet who became his opal mining mentor. Now back in New York he is opening a new gallery in SoHo and heading up a charitable foundation. He didn't want to meet Holly again, but when he got her note about the boat all the old memories came back and he had to see her again. But after Holly sells her condo and temporarily moves into Lukas's building working for six weeks as his gallery manager things really heat up.

I really enjoyed this book. Lukas was a sexy and jealous hero and Holly was a strong-minded heroine. This was a sometimes sweet and sometimes sad story of love and loss set in New York with lots of sexual tension as Holly and Lukas find they can't deny their attraction to each other.

rabck box from bookstogive 11/09; refreshing quirky romance. Clea and Austin married and divorced according to plan 7 years ago. Except the lawyer didn't file the paperwork & Austin isn't sure that he wants to divorce Clea anyway. Now he has to convince her of that!

Cute little story about rodeo rider Noah who was in a car accident and his nurse turns out to be Tess, a woman he dated eight years ago. It has an often used theme of a love child he never knew about but hero's matured self was mostly upbeat and a nice Christmas read.

Wonderful reunion story. Deke was stunned when a social worker showed up at his home with a twenty month old boy she said was his. The little boy's mother, a fellow photographer, had never told him she was pregnant. With her death, Deke is all that little Zack has.

Deke had never planned on having a family. His own relationship with his father wasn't good and Deke figured that family life wasn't for him. It turned out that being Zack's dad was the best thing to ever happen to him. It also made him think that it was time to mend fences, so he and Zack headed to Montana for Thanksgiving. He doesn't really expect much welcome from his father. John Malone had spent a lot of time belittling Deke's dreams of being a photographer. He wanted Deke to run the family grocery store and made no secret of his opinion. By the time he left college, Deke had had enough and left home. He hadn't been back in fifteen years.

I felt bad for Deke. While his welcome from his mom and sisters was everything he could hope for, his dad was just as dismissive as ever. Even though he hadn't expected anything to be different, he had still hoped for something better, and was hurt and angry at his father's attitude. After leaving his parents' house, he found himself instinctively driving toward his old friend Erin's house, even though he knew she was living in Paris. Since he was friends with her family, he continued on to see them, and was surprised to see Erin was there after all.

Erin had been in love with Deke when they were teenagers, even though he only saw her as a friend. Once she accepted that he would never think that way about her, she pursued her own photography dreams in France. There she met and married a photojournalist, and had a happy twelve years and three kids with him, before he was killed during one of his trips. She brought her kids home to Montana to be near her family. She never expected to see Deke again, much less with a child. Seeing him was a shock, and brought back the memories of how she used to feel about him. Erin was afraid that spending any time with him would devastate her when he left again.

Deke was thrilled to see Erin again, and was looking forward to catching up with her. He was a bit surprised by her cool reception. But the next evening, after her family and his had attended a showing of his photographs, he found himself on her doorstep. Erin was the one who had always helped him through confrontations with his father, and there he was again. This time, though, there was something else flaring between them, and he was surprised to find himself looking at her in a whole new way. They indulged themselves in a brief period of passion, knowing that Deke was leaving, and there was no future for them, especially as Deke still doesn't see marriage in his life.

Fate has a way of interfering in the best laid plans. Deke's father has a heart attack, and Deke finds himself staying and running the grocery store while his father recovers. He can't handle the idea of staying with his parents at this time, so he asks Erin if he and Zack can stay at her house with her and her kids. Erin is reluctant at first, because she can see that it will be way to easy to fall for him again. And as the weeks go on, Deke and Zack do work their way into her heart and life, and the lives of her children. Deke was surprised by how right it felt to be staying with Erin. Even working the grocery store is made bearable by being able to go home to her each day.

I loved seeing Deke's whole outlook on life change, as first he takes to being Zack's dad, and then becomes part of Erin's family. It was great to see how wonderful he was with Erin's kids, and how easily they blended together. Thanks to his father's attitude toward him, Deke is wary of rejection, and even as he finally realizes that he loves her, he can't bring himself to say the words. He nearly wrecks it all at the end before he realizes what he did, and manages to fix it. The ending was terrific, and even Deke's dad redeems himself.

Dare to Trust - Harlequin Romance, No 2721 by Anne McAllister

Anna Douglas is engaged to Richard Howell. The only reason she said yes, she could not think of a good reason not to. She takes a teaching job in Wisconsin. She plans to live in the home of Professor William Fielding and his teenage daughter. That is not who she finds at the house.

Colin Davies is the Professors cousin and had to come home he has malaria and is extremely ill. He sent a letter to cancel the house guest. Between being sick and weak as a kitten he hasn't the strength to throw her out, so she stays. And the fun begins.

Say you have a three-day fling with a dude that leaves you with a son. Aforementioned dude isn't a local and your best efforts to contact him about said child are unacknowledged for six years. Dude shows up, wants to be daddy now, and wants to sleep in your bed with you that night.

Do you:

A.) Tell him to leave or you'll call the cops.

B.) Say he can stay on the sofa or GTFO.

C.) Put up a token resistance for a few minutes before acquiescing.

Only read this book if option C makes sense to you.

Flynn Murray is a globe-trotting journalist and erstwhile Irish earl who just discovers he's had a son, with a woman he had a short fling with almost six years ago. Wanting to make up for the lost time, and avoid being the absentee father his own pater was, he flies out to Montana to see Sara McMaster and meet their five year old son Liam.

This is a plot perched upon one bizarre judgement after another. I couldn't buy Sara's angst over their 72-hour fling. I can see perhaps her building his memory into a larger-than-life sort of myth, and struggling to reconcile memory with reality, but being butt-hurt that a guy didn't propose after a three-day fling? Claiming to "still" love him after all these years, but wanting to push him away to keep from getting hurt? Didn't work for me, and if you can't buy the premise behind the angst, you end up just rolling your eyes at the resulting actions.

Sara was a weak-willed, emotional ninny and Flynn an assuming dynamo with daddy issues. When I imagine their future marriage, all I see are arguments that consist of "Baby, why are you mad at me?" "If you don't why, I'm not telling you", and his will always triumphing over her token resistance.

Romance novels are ... well ... let's face it. Fluff. We read them because we want a formula of boy-meets-girl, not-too-insurmountable difficulties, and then a happy ending where the girl gets the boy. On the way, hopefully the author will teach us something and make us fall in love along with the characters. This was one of the ones that met those goals.

Luke Tanner is poignant as the cowboy-turned-stunt double-turned-cowboy who retreats back into his original trade after the tragic death of his best friend after the friend died after insisting on doing his own stunt. Not only mourning his friends death, but also to escape unresolved feelings for his deceased best friends grieving fiance, Luke turns back to the hard, solitary life of a cowboy to find peace. When his best friends fiance suddenly shows up two years later to interview him for a memoir about their mutual movie actor/friend, old wounds are suddenly reopened.

Unlike most romance novels, this one was written entirely from the viewpoint of the hero. We get to inhabit Luke's head as he keeps pushing Jillian away despite his resurging feelings for her and realize he isn't doing so simply to be a jerk. His guilt over not talking his friend over doing the stunt the day he died and the fact he had always possessed feelings for the woman now at his doorstep feel palpable and genuine, not contrived.

Especially realistic was the authors descriptions of the daily duties of a cowboy. No glamor here. Just lots of hard, repetitive, lonely, dangerous work. I know little about the real life of a cowboy, but the job description felt gritty and real, not some watered-down romantic version of what it meant to be a cowboy. I learned something.

Keeping in mind a 5-star rating for a formula romance novel isn't the same thing as, say, 5-stars for Charles Dickens, I would say put this one on your reading list. You'll feel good at the end.

Sava's Wildcat by Anne McAllister
4 STARS
This has charming moments. It is a nice fun fast read.
Yiannis Savas wakes up early to a phone call from his 85 year old tenant asking him for a favor and take her to hospital. Yiannis has been out of the country and just got in the night before. He has no idea that she had a great grandson staying with her till he is carring Maggie out to his car when she tells him better take her car because car seat wont fit in his.
Yiannis finds himself baby sitting Harry because his mom is in Germany telling Harry's dad that he is a father. Yiannis has baby sat many times with his big family so at least he knows how to take care of Harry.
Cat MacLean rushes into town after her grandmother calls to tell her she broke a hip and is having surgery the next day. Maggy raised Cat after her parents died. She moved to another part of the state after she broke up with Yiannis when he said he did not want to get married to her. Cat was not happy to deal with him over the baby but she needed his help with Harry.
Cat was now engaged to marry someone else and thought she was over Yiannis. Yiannis realizes that he still wants Cat.
It is funny to watch them watch each other and realize that they are not through with each other after all.
04/03/2012 PUB Harlequin Harlequin Presents